americans killedinbenghazithisweek will return. the internet brings the world together also gives anyone with a computer the ability to light a fuse and ignite a tragic chain of events. joining us from washington, david wood, senior military correspondent with "the huffington post." always great to see you. >> hi, alex. >> these are certainly changing and tragic times. that news that the president and the secretary of state will be greeting the remains of chris stevens, the ambassador to libya, i think it is with heavy hearts the nation welcomes back his body under tragic circumstances. want to talk about sort of the larger picture here which is just how this thing started sort of, you know, in one corner of the world and has spread rapidly throughout the muslim world from africa to southeast asia. you are a military and defense expert. what do you make of the situation in terms of how we protect american interests overseas at the same time accounting for the fact that we are a country with free speech and civil liberties are a big part of what makes america. >> you know what word i've b

of four americans at the u.s. embassyinbenghazi. thelibyan city america helped free from the oppressive regime of moammar gadhafi. chris stevens was among the americans killed after protesters stormed the embassy last night. demonstrators also swarmed the u.s. embassy in cairo, scaling the walls and tearing apart the american flag. the attacks are believed to be in reaction to a obscure movie film in the u.s. by an israeli citizen one that ridicules islam and the prophet mohammed. today, flags at the capitol have been lowered to half mast and the president spoke earlier in the rose garden addressing the tragedy. >> the united states condemns in the strongest terms this outrageous and shocking attack. since our founding, the united states has been a nation that respects all faiths. we reject all efforts to denigrate the religious beliefs of others. but there is absolutely no justification to this type of senseless violence. none. >> not content to sit on the sidelines at a critical moment in his presidential campaign, governor mitt romney plunged himself into the middle of this developin

steven was a dedicated public servant communicating with people on the ground inlibya,benghaziwhorepresented what i think is the best values of what the united states is trying to achieve in these places, working with the people there, understanding the language and the culture. >> he spoke the language. >> he did. and the truth is, is that i think this is -- when things flare up, there's like a couple of different kinds of responses. there's like what we need to do, get out of there be more passive, withdraw. and the other side, which is where romney is, it's like we need to be more belligerent, forceful. what is happening on the ground that we see from chris stevens is in between those things. >> that connects with point you were making, proposals in the house attach more conditions of egypt funding is not the right way to go? >> i think you need to continue building relationship with the governments because if you do what reagan did in '82 he empowered hezbollah. the most important neither lebanon that controls the region is hezbollah. if you disengage, you empower extremists,